“I went to go pick one and I didn't get my body turned,” Verlander said. “The way I thought — and this was all in milliseconds — if I just throw it home, they won't call anything.”

… The A's didn't know what to think.

“That was the strangest thing I've ever seen,” A's manager Bob Geren said. “It took like six coaches to try to figure out what he did.”

Verlander found the whole thing funny.

“I saw the video of it and I couldn't help but laugh at myself,” Verlander said. “It might be the first time it happened in general. I thought nothing could happen at the plate. It was funny talking to the umpires. They gave me a hard time about it, too.”